Sawadi Ka Red Bull

Last year I wrote about Medicine That Makes You Fly ! I suggest you have a quick look at that post to keep up with this one :)

After all these years – I have come across the Thai Red Bull bottle again .. I had thought of its existence as a fleeting memory from a distant time (i.e university days seem like a lifetime ago)

But I did find it …  In Thailand of course :) I spent the last week over there celebrating one of my closest girlfriends’ 30th birthday. (check out the swanky leather stud cover for the bottle – Absolut Rocks)

This medicinal bottle of Red Bull is just as I remember it from my university days … sickeningly sweet and really quite like cough syrup !  Pattaya and Bangkok have NO Red Bull CANS at all ! I found some ‘Shark’ energy drink cans but absolutely nada luck on the Red Bull.

However once we drowned the Red Bull with Absolut – there was no reason to complain =)  Vodka Red Bull has been my drink of choice for almost a decade now .. unless a better mix comes about – I’m sticking with it .. can or medicine bottle style !

Wordless Wednesday #4 – Empty Spaces

As soon as I saw this photo – I was utterly captivated and magically transported to the shores of the beach and could feel my feet getting splashed with salt water.   The photo was taken by JJJohn in Manduria, Italy. 

Thought I’d try something different since I’m still new to this .. I’d love to know your answers to the questions below :)

1. How do you ‘feel’ you see this image ?
   • I’m drawn in by the horizon.  I want to sink the soles of my feet in the sand and feel the water trap them in.  I want to spread my arms and embrace the winds and salt water air and feel my hair blown away.  I want to feel the power of nature. 

That’s my answer.. what about yours ? 

For more WW pay a visit the Wordless Wednesday site.

 

Thinking Outside The Puri

Some of you may recall that I’ve had some major Paani Puri Cravings to a point I wrote about the reactions I got Outside the Puri … well all of that was for the launch of a new brand created by my friend (and client) Rish Oberoi. 

This young man has kept Mumbai on its toes wondering about his obsession with Paani Puri and it’s been worth the wait !  Here’s the brand new teaser … I would love to know your feedback and comments about the video – it would really mean a lot to him and me !

If you are looking for some unique out-of-the-box style T-shirts – then I strongly recommend checking out the website Paani Puri Clothing and the Paani Puri Clothing Blog (where I am a regular writer)

Please feel free to share this video teaser campaign with your readers and your friends … we want to spread the Paani Puri Love to the world :)

Music Mondays # 1 : Hed Kandi DJ Roog - Beautiful

Since I wasn’t quite sure what I wanted to post today so I decided to play along with a Music Monday meme.  For those of you on Twitter – you’d be aware that there is a #MusicMonday or #MM that takes place each Monday where users put up their favourite tracks.

I’ve written about some of my favourite songs before – but I thought that by participating in something like this would allow for all of us to share our music preferences and also get to check out some other alternative music by the rest of blogosphere.

So here’s my very first Music Monday featured in the Hed Kandi albums : DJ Roog – Beautiful.  I find this to be a perfect pick-me up track; it’s very up beat – not heavy house and no loud bass either – it’s actually quite perfect for a Monday morning.  Give it a shot – try listening to it whilst you’re getting ready – I can guarantee that you’ll have a smashing day :)

Come join Music Monday and share your songs with us. Rules are simple. Leave ONLY the actual post link here and grab the code below and place it at your blog entry. You can grab this code at LadyJava's Lounge Please note these links are STRICTLY for Music Monday participants only. All others will be deleted without prejudice. PS: Because of spamming purposes, the linky will be closed on Thursday of each week at midnight, Malaysian Time. Thank you!

Sports Fever …

Over the years, as much as I am a sports enthusiast, I’ve found that some of my guy mates are not just enthusiasts – they are down right obsessive when it comes to sports related events and if there’s a game going on that they support – somehow they manage to get themselves tickets to go and watch the game.

India is currently on a rage with with the IPL Cricket matches that are going on and almost everyone I know has been attending matches at the stadiums – even my girlfriends … except me :(  I was invited by my mate SG for a match but alas I couldn’t make it that evening. 

So over the last few weeks – every time I’ve been out – the primary topic of conversation seems to be focused on Cricket, Football (English and American), Tennis and Basketball !  It’s as if everyone wakes up eating, breathing and thinking of sports !A buddy of mine has just returned from a trip to the US and has been raving on about acquiring Boston Celtics Tickets for some home games for when he is due back to Boston.  For those that don’t know (and yes I fell in that category until my mate and Wikipedia told me otherwise) – the Celtics are a Basketball team who play in the Atlantic Division of the Eastern Conference of the NBA. 

I’ve never watched a live professional basketball game before so perhaps the next time I make a trip to the US – I’ll grab myself some tickets and go down for a game =)  Which is your favourite basketball team ?  I’m going to go with whichever team Michael Jordan (‘cos he wears 23 and that’s my birthday) and Shaq play for :) hehehe but saying that I don’t mind getting a hold of some Harlem Globetrotters tickets !

Then last night when I was chilling with my cousin Nomster, we were going over photos of the Real Madrid and Barcelona football match (yes English football) that our other cousins from Spain had attended.  Her mate AD from St Thomas was with us – and was insistent that American football was much better than English football.  Him and his mates have all got Chicago Bears Tickets for 2 games in August !

So Nomster and I asked him to explain a bit more about the format of the football games and he went on to tell us the SEC Football Championship Tickets were some of the hardest tickets to obtain as the SEC Championship is considered one of the premier events in college football.  The final football match will be taking place in Atlanta in December this year and tickets are already practically sold out !

Now don’t get me wrong – I actually enjoy both versions of the game – but somehow I still prefer English football (maybe because now I actually understand the game – and I am British after all).  Although I have always loved watching movies based on American football such as Remember The Titans, Any Given Sunday, The Replacements and Jerry McGuire (ok this was more for Tom Cruise)

I’d go for a football match (English or American) any day … I quite enjoy the sport myself :) But until I can do that – I suppose I’ll just have to be satisfied watching the games on the big screen.  Oh and tomorrow is the IPL Cricket Finals – Mumbai Indians vs. Chennai Super Kings … there’s gonna be some mayhem in this city !! Does it make me a bad person if I rather get Sesame Street Live Tickets and fly across to the US than watch the cricket !

However before you think I’ve never been to any sort of live game – I’ll have you know that whilst at university I’d managed to get hold of Chicago Blackhawks Tickets ! Living in Montreal made me appreciate ice hockey as a sport – it takes a lot out of you !

So for all of the above sports – I can understand why and how people can become so engrossed in them.  The one sport that I never understood was and I think always will be – is Golf !! How can it possibly be interesting watching someone hit a golf ball across the greens and then just following them around ??  I used to caddy for my uncle when he was out playing golf; he’s still just as keen on the sport as he was over a decade ago.  He’s already purchased Augusta National Golf Course Tickets for the 2011 Masters in Georgia, USA.  The course is ranked as the  #1 course in Golf Digests’ list of America’s 100 greatest courses.

So what’s your favourite sport to watch live and on TV ? Have you been for many live matches ? Which ones ? and what was your best experience ? Is there any sport that you don’t enjoy ? Would love to hear your thoughts on this :)

Are You Insured ?

And I’m not referring to travel insurance !

I really must be growing up … I realized last night whilst talking to my mate DM that I have actually been responsible enough to have purchased my own Life Insurance! I know my parents have always had one for me .. but something clicked in me about 2 years ago when I moved down to India and I took the advice of a financial advisor visiting my office and went ahead and asked for more information on the various insurance plans available out there in the market.

One of my uncles who is based in Australia had come over for lunch today, and was telling me about how he was comparing Life Insurance Quotes from Oz and in India; and that he’d come across a company in Oz that offered a pretty good coverage for Funeral Insurance ! He mentioned that typically a funeral can cost anywhere between $5000 to $10,000 !

I have never thought about getting funeral insurance … I mean I’m young, healthy, and the thought of putting money aside for when I gone from this world … well it’s kind of scary actually ! One of my best mates Kimo was telling me whilst I was in Dubai about how his father has purchased burial plots in Egypt so that the whole family can be buried in the same place instead of being spaced apart. 

I suppose our generation is different to our parents generations.  My parents have made sure that they have hooked us all up with education and life insurance policies whilst growing up.  I know for a fact that my mom has made property investments for my siblings and myself so that we won’t face difficulties in the future.  And my mom has never worked a day in her life.

Here I am with just over 8 years of work experience and I am only now coming to realize the need to start protecting not only myself but also my future family, my future kids.  Education doesn’t come cheap these days and I’d like for my children to be able to have a well rounded education including university at an overseas location like I did.

Have you got any sort of life or funeral insurance policies ? Are you considering getting one if you don’t have one already?

I suppose the question I should be asking is ‘would your death leave anyone in financial difficulty?’ … if the answer is yes (and it could be your spouse, partner, family, siblings, even children) .. then I suppose its time to look into getting some Life Insurance !

What are your thoughts on this ?

Some Useful Resources

1. Tips for Buying Funeral Insurance
2. Life Insurance : Putting A Price on Peace of Mind
3. Term or Permanent Life Insurance ?

Beyond Belief …

Note : This post was written on 13th April but my laptop battery died and then I flew out to Thailand … Now that I’m back I can post it :)

Over the weekend of 10th April, I managed to escape out to Nashik (which is about 3 hours drive – 180 km from Bombay and also known as the Wine Capital of India) with some friends for a wine tasting at the Sula Vineyards and an over night trip.  It was by far absolutely beyond belief !

It was a cool road trip since we were 9 of us and split up in 2 cars.  Yours truly was the designated driver and honestly I wasn’t going to let anyone else drive my car. 

Here’s some of the pics that we captured on route to Nashik.  The landscape throughout the drive was very dry and almost desert like – which is the complete opposite of the drive to Lonavala which is relatively lush and green. 

I’m still wondering why I was so surprised to see random cows, bullocks and goats on the road.  You’d think I’d be used to such sights but I still get super excited when I see these animals on the road.  There was a man trying to convince a goat to cross the road by picking up the kid goat and holding it out for the mummy/daddy goat to cross over !!  Wish I got a picture of that.

Another spectacle was this truck that had at least 15 people in the back – four of which were sitting on the ledge and one of them was standing.  They kept driving like this for about 40 odd kilometers.  We got quite a few waves and thumbs up motions when they saw my co-pilot maneuver himself to capture the photos.

Firstly our villa was called Beyond – and when they named this place – they weren’t kidding !  It’s one of the best private properties I’ve seen in a while out here.  The place was HUGE – with 3 bedrooms – all with en-suite washrooms.  It also came with 4 members of staff who cooked all our meals – so definitely worth the price we paid for it. 

The living and dining room was open plan and all had sliding windows leading out to the garden.  Both bedrooms on the ground floor had hammocks hanging outside so one could just chill out. 

It was an amazing feeling just to be able to relax and lie back on the grass – watch the sunset – whilst listening to the sounds of nature !  If you are based in India especially around the Mumbai area – then I highly recommend a stop over at this haven !

And now for my favourite photos from the trip ….. ta daaaaaa !

Why Do You Blog ?

I’ve been doing a lot of reading this morning (like any other morning) and came across an interesting post by Jeff Bullas titled ‘Why Do You Blog’ (hence the title of my post since there was really no other way of putting it)  which I highly recommend you all read.

I have taken the liberty of putting together a little diagram to summarize what Jeff has said :

 

I’ve been blogging for almost 2 years now .. seriously since about 1.5 year .. and I’ve never really thought about ‘why’ I blog .. I blog because I want to.  There’s no real hidden purpose behind it.  It’s more about the ability to be able to express myself and to voice out an opinion.  I’m not a political blogger nor am I a business blogger .. I don’t fall into the dating / relationship blogger category (but am flattered that a few of my Twitter friends consider me to be so) ..

I suppose I blog for all of the above illustrated reasons – more so in the personal blogger category because I tend to write about a variety of things .. hence the name Sporadic Reflections for my blog.

I never thought I’d make money from blogging.  Hats off to those who make a living as bloggers.  I just don’t know if I would be able to do that.  I mean I love to write but I barely have the time that would even remotely qualify me to be able to make enough money to sustain myself.  Having said that, I have over the past few months enrolled myself with various sites that pay bloggers for content.  I’m also quite proud of the fact that I’ve managed to make about $100 from doing what I enjoy in my spare time – writing – or to say it correctly – by blogging. 

Everyone has their own reasons behind why they choose to blog – after all it’s about finding your blogger voice.  As an events & wedding planner – I have been meaning to put together a few articles that I feel would be helpful for brides and grooms and have them put up on my blog.  I’ve even thought about having a separate blog just for that.  I’m still in the researching phase for that – but it’s something I want to do and hope to have up and running soon enough.  Alternatively I will just wait until my company website is live and have the blog as a part of that.

I recommend business blogs to all my clients who come to me for marketing consulting.  I am very pro social media marketing and encourage clients to delve into it if they haven’t already as I feel its a better medium for them.  There are a plethora of ways of business to promote their brand and their products by way of blogging and incorporating a few other social media mediums and use it to their advantage. 

MySpace introduced blogging quite a few years ago – and created an avenue for music artists to put up their latest projects, gigs, their new music, and also enable them to interact with their fans.  There are a growing number of photo blogs out there that lets photography enthusiasts show off their talents and lets the rest of cyber space enough their photography.  Some of us have never seen the images captured and probably never will.

Now that I have found my blogger voice – what about you ? Have you found your blogger voice ? And lastly I’ll leave you with this thought – does a public or private blog affect your writing ?

So why do you blog ? Would love to know your thoughts on this and if you have taken the time to read any of the other posts linked to this article – don’t forget to leave a comment :)

Wordless Wednesday #3 Lovely Old Lane

I found this gorgeous picture on Evans blog over at Beautiful Mac.  This is one of pictures compiled for Earth Day.  The photo is © Northman (Arjan Noordman).  It’s a lane on an old estate in Wezep (Holland).  The original photo can be found here.

Thought I’d try something different since I’m still new to this .. I’d love to know your answers to the questions below :)

1. What comes to mind when you see this image ?
   • ‘Light at the end of the road’; ‘power of nature’;
2. If you could be at this location right now – who would you be there with and what would you be doing ?
   • I’d be by myself .. I love exploring on my own .. and this seems like the perfect road for me to get lost in my sporadic thoughts :)

So those are my answers .. what are yours ?

For more WW pay a visit the Wordless Wednesday site.

Post Office Parcel Adventure

I can’t help but crack up laughing whilst writing this post … It’s just too funny ! Maybe not to you right now – but once I’m done and you actually read the reference posts – you’d appreciate it :)

Background to Fill You In

A week or so prior to Valentines, I got totally inspired to write a few posts all thanks to Nandoism’s Valentines Erotica Submission post .. If I say so myself, damn I was on a roll and how ! I then went on to work up the nerve to take part in the content held by Empire Labs; only to realize I belonged to the wrong country.  Around this time I started focusing on the calling of my blogger voice; and eventually got to submitting a small piece of erotica to the competition.

Then on 15th February I came to know that I had WON the Nandoism and Empire Labs competition !!!  and that I’d be receiving a big box of goodies from the lovely peeps over at Empire Labs … but since they’re going to be shipping to India … and technically ‘toys’ aren’t really allowed … I would be receiving a box of sample molding kits hahahha

So anyway … I’ve been in touch with the lovely Becky from Empire Labs and she’s been checking in on whether or not I’ve received my parcel as yet.  Between the jinxes I’ve received from my Twitter friends Berges M and Rajiv Dingra; I’ve been quite doubtful whether or not I’d EVER receive my parcel ! .. Then it finally happened … I got a post card from the post office informing me that my parcel was with the CUSTOMS division of the Foreign Post Office and that I should make my way over and collect it.

Off I went earlier today and believe you me when I tell you that this is NOT an easy place to find ! After eventually finding the damn office, I was directed to 3 different people only to have the last person (who was a conservative old man – and I mean grandpa old) – keep hinting that I might potentially be receiving ‘illegal’ items since I didn’t 'quite know the content of the parcel (of course I did  but I’m not about to break it down to a grandpa that I’m receiving a box of sex toys!)

(this pic is the closest I can get to describe the old man at the post office .. minus the turban .. he was even wagging his finger at me when telling me off)

I now have to go back tomorrow and go and ‘open’ this parcel in front of him as it turns out he’s the ‘examiner’ … hmmm … now what ?? I went over to the head of the building and gave him a sob story telling him how I didn’t like grandpa telling me off about my parcel and how it was really inconvenient for me to keep coming to the post office .. I mean after all .. I have a job !! !can’t just leave in the middle of the day to sit at the post office :P  

My sister and I were cracking up over this because it’s going to be highly embarrassing if I DO have to open this box up !!! I don’t quite know WHAT the customs office is going to say to me !  My sis reckons I should take a letter / email from Empire Labs and show it to the customs for proof; and then attempt to video the entire episode on my camera whilst I’m there for you to get the REAL FEEL of my experience.

Hmmm .. might just have to try that out !  Guess you’ll just have to wait and see what happens with the parcel !  Wish me luck people !